Sometimes Christianity can feel like a puzzle we’re desperately trying to solve.

Learn the right things. Follow the right rules. Avoid the wrong behaviors. Be generous enough, kind enough, disciplined enough, faithful enough. And underneath all of it is an exhausting question: How do I know if I’m doing enough?

In Mark 12, an expert in God’s law essentially brings that question to Jesus. With 613 commandments to consider, he asks Jesus which one matters most.

Jesus does something unexpected. Before giving him a command, He gives him a confession: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

Jesus starts with who God is.

That order matters because Christianity doesn’t begin with our ability to perform for God. It begins with seeing God clearly. When we understand His character—His mercy, faithfulness, generosity, holiness, and self-sacrificial love—His commands begin to look less like arbitrary demands and more like invitations into the life we were created to live.

And from that foundation, Jesus says everything else flows in two directions: Love God with all of who you are, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Those aren’t two disconnected assignments. Love for God inevitably spills into love for people.

Our time in Scripture shapes how we enter the meeting. Our prayers affect how patiently we respond to our children. Our worship changes the way we see the neighbor across the street. Listening carefully, keeping our word, forgiving, encouraging, serving, and noticing someone who feels invisible can all become expressions of our love for God.

But there’s still a problem.

We don’t do this perfectly. Sometimes we don’t even want to.

That’s why the answer cannot simply be, “Try harder.” Jesus has spent the entire Gospel showing people that their inability isn’t the end of the story. We cannot manufacture the life of God through greater effort. We need the Life Giver.

“I can’t” has never disqualified anyone from following Jesus. It’s often where following Him actually begins.

Christianity isn’t about capable people becoming increasingly religious. It’s about people who recognize their need encountering the God who has already come near.

The invitation is not to stand close enough to Jesus to agree with Him.

It’s to trust Him enough to come home.

Reflection Questions

1. When you think about your relationship with God, are you more likely to begin with what you need to do for Him or with who He is and what He has done for you?
2. Where could your love for God become a more tangible expression of love toward someone near you who needs you?
3. What area of your life makes you want to say, “I can’t”—and how might admitting that become an invitation to depend more deeply on Jesus?